The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn
When director Steven Spielberg gets together with producer Peter Jackson on a cinematic take based on the much-loved Tintin series of books, one can count on stratospheric expectations. A cast that is led by Jamie Bell and Andy Serkis, with the likes of Daniel Craig and Simon Pegg supporting, only adds to the luster. Motion capture, 3D technology and the latest refinements of CGI are all brought to bear. Early reviews have been favorable, and despite the intricate plot (story elements have been taken from two other Tintin books in addition to the book that shares the film’s title) and some incredible feats of technical wizardry, adapting a book with such a devoted fan base is always a risky enterprise. There has been quite a bit of negative comment to balance out the general enthusiasm. What cannot be denied is that The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn is cinematic entertainment of the first order.
Moneyball
Big names headline a baseball movie that has many American critics raving, though elsewhere they have been inclined to shrug their shoulders. It all depends on how you feel about baseball and the arcane art of player selection. Moneyball has ambitions to be the new The Social Network, and features screenplay credits by Aaron Sorkin, a much-lauded leading performance by Brad Pitt, and some excellent fish-out-water comedy by Jonah Hill (Superbad, Get Him to the Greek). There is a bunch of stuff about some clever software kit used by Pitt’s character Billy Beane, an actual person who used it to bring together a potentially winning baseball team on a tight budget. Metrics software is not Facebook, but for anyone with a love of baseball, Moneyball looks like a sure-fire hit.
Immortals
Early sneak peeks suggest that Immortals is the film that Clash of the Titans aspired to be. It sees a return to something like form by Mickey Rourke as the villain of the story, a wonderfully ripped Henry Cavill (The Tudors, Red Riding Hood) as the hero Theseus, and a gravelly narration by John Hurt. Tarsem Singh, a young director whose 2007 film The Fall earned a seldom-given four stars from critic Roger Ebert, shows a remarkable visual flair and ability to handle out-sized fantasy themes. The feel of the film shares some similarities with 300, though it is visually even more intricate. If you like your men oiled and in leather and/or your women buxom and sultry, this film will have you in ecstasies.
Attenberg
Like the deeply weird Dogtooth by Greek director Giorgos Lanthimos, which showed here in April, Attenberg by compatriot Athina Rachel Tsangari looks set to polarize opinion, delighting hardened cinephiles with its bold indifference to the rules of linear narrative and accepted film language, and causing frustration among wider audiences annoyed with its relentless impenetrability. The main character Marina’s (Ariane Labed) interpretation of the world around her is mediated through her obsessive interest in the work of wildlife documentary-maker David Attenborough (his mispronounced name gives the film its title). Her friendship with a more worldly Bella (Evangelia Randou), who plays up to Marina’s peculiarities, forms the main substance of the film. There is some fine acting, and Labed picked up Best Actress honors at Venice last year for this picture.
The Big Picture (L’homme qui voulait vivre sa vie)
A workman-like thriller in the mold of Guillaume Canet’s Tell No One. Based on a novel by best-selling author Douglas Kennedy, The Big Picture is one of those films that gradually and meticulously builds up situations from quite conventional ingredients, but does so in such a way that normal life gets pulled apart. The story sees its hero Paul (Romain Duris) discover his wife in infidelity, face up to his own ambitions and regrets, find a new identity, see the way to redemption, and discover that success has a sting in its tail. Strong performances, including a lovely and underused Catherine Deneuve, this is a well-crafted and intelligent film likely to appeal to anyone who likes a good thriller in which emotions rather than buildings and cars explode.
Death and Glory in Changde (喋血孤城)
From Shen Dong (沈東), the director who gave us the jingoistic tosh Taihang Shan Shang (太行山上), Death and Glory in Changde lives up to its title as a simplistic war film in which heroic Chinese make a last stand against a vastly superior force of Japanese troops who stop at nothing to take the strategically important city. There are plenty of stereotypes on hand, from the iron-jawed Chinese commanding officer played by Hong Kong veteran Ray Lui (呂良偉), the gentle nurse (Ady An, 安以軒) who works tirelessly to help the wounded (looking lovely all the while) and a host of vicious Japanese officers and soldiers. It’s all pretty predictable, but there are some fine set piece battle sequences and good production values, and it is probably no worse than a host of old-fashioned war movies where the plucky Allies got the better of the nefarious Bosch.
Eternal First Love
Laughter, tears, a return from the dead, dual identities, music and pasta all come together in this light romantic melodrama about foodies Takeshi (Takashi Tsukamoto), an Italian restaurant chef, and Ruri (Saki Aibu). Just at the moment when Takeshi wants to express romantic feelings, he is crushed to death by a suicidal musician. Takeshi dies, but his personality becomes embedded in the musician’s body. Absurd plot, attractive cast, and generally inoffensive.
Love Come (Rabukome)
Japanese TV stars take to the big screen in a light-hearted romantic romp. Makie Matsuda meets Miharu, a geeky old acquaintance who works as an anime screenwriter. Miharu tries to declare his feelings on the same day Makie gets back together with her ex-boyfriend. Nishijima, an anime voice artist, falls for Ryoko, who works in Makie’s flower shop and moonlights as a hostess. Various situations ensue. Does not present a particularly riveting option in a week with so many big movies opening.
Sankaku
Yet another Japanese soap on the big screen, this time dealing with a love triangle. Momose is a bit of a slacker, and his relationship with Kayo isn’t going anywhere. When Kayo’s young sister Momo comes to stay, family life livens up, then takes a turn south when a romantic relationship between Momose and Momo develops. A romantic comedy that takes its characters seriously to build up a not unappealing picture of life among young Japanese urbanites.
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
This year’s Michelin Gourmand Bib sported 16 new entries in the 126-strong Taiwan directory. The fight for the best braised pork rice and the crispiest scallion pancake painstakingly continued, but what stood out in the lineup this year? Pang Taqueria (胖塔可利亞); Taiwan’s first Michelin-recommended Mexican restaurant. Chef Charles Chen (陳治宇) is a self-confessed Americophile, earning his chef whites at a fine-dining Latin-American fusion restaurant. But what makes this Xinyi (信義) spot stand head and shoulders above Taipei’s existing Mexican offerings? The authenticity. The produce. The care. AUTHENTIC EATS In my time on the island, I have caved too many times to
In a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses. After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure. The team is among 10 recognized in this year’s Ig Nobel awards (see below for more), the irreverent accolades given for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” They are not